Rasmussen Lands Lexus GT300 Drive After JOTA Exit

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Oliver Rasmussen will race in SUPER GT’s lower GT300 class this year with the apr Lexus team following his exit from JOTA Sport’s FIA World Endurance Championship squad.

The Danish driver will partner Toyota junior Miki Koyama aboard apr’s No. 31 Lexus LC500h, as he takes on a double program in Japan that also includes Super Formula.

It follows Rasmussen’s departure from JOTA, where he raced in the WEC since 2022, initially in the LMP2 class in 2022-23 before stepping up to the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 effort in the Hypercar class for last season.

He and his teammates in the No. 38 car, Jenson Button and Phil Hanson, scored a best finish of sixth at Fuji and took second in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams.

Koyama meanwhile steps up to a full-time GT300 drive with apr after making sporadic appearances over the past two seasons for Anest Iwata Racing and R’Qs Motor Sports.

She was part of apr’s lineup in Super Taikyu’s top ST-X class last year, scoring a victory at Suzuka, and also contested the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia series last year.

Rasmussen and Koyama will be supported in the No. 31 car by third driver Yuki Nemoto.

The No. 30 apr Toyota GR86 GT will be shared by veteran Manabu Orido, who returns to a full-time drive after stepping down to a part-time role last year, and gentleman racer Hiroaki Nagai, as Rikuto Kobyashi departs the team.

Kobayashi has been shifted over to the Saitama Green Brave squad as third driver alongside the continuing pairing of Hiroki Yoshida and Seita Nonaka.

Kobayashi’s fellow Toyota juniors Yuki Sano and Kazuhisa Urabe have been placed as third drivers at Shade Racing and Inging respectively, with both GR86 GT teams continuing with unchanged primary lineups.

The No. 30 apr car has joined Shade Racing in adopting Michelin tires, making the switch away from Yokohama, although the team’s No. 31 car continues on Bridgestones.

Elsewhere in the Toyota stable, Hironobu Yasuda returns to SUPER GT as part of a new look Anest Iwata team in the wake of the outfit’s split from Arnage Racing.

Yasuda, who was sidelined last year after his long relationship with Nissan came to an end, will partner Igor Fraga aboard the Anest Iwata Lexus RC F GT3.

K-tunes Racing continues with an unchanged lineup of Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi in its RC F GT3, which uses Dunlop tires unlike the Yokohama-shod Anest Iwata car.

Second Lexus LC500 for LM Corsa

The No. 31 car will not be the only LC500 on the SUPER GT grid in 2025, as fellow Toyota-aligned team LM Corsa has also confirmed plans to switch to the car.

However, the car is listed in Toyota’s statement as a LC500, indicating that unlike the apr example, it will not be powered by a hybrid system. Hiroki Yoshimoto and Shunsuke Kohno will continue to share driving duties.

LM Corsa has run the Toyota GR Supra GT300, also built by apr, since 2021, but has struggled for results since scoring two wins in its first season with the car.

It means there are now only two examples of the GR Supra in the GT300 division — the No. 52 Green Brave car and the No. 25 Tsuchiya Engineering version, which will be driven by Takamitsu Matsui and Kimiya Sato.

Togo Suganami, who was part of the Hoppy-backed Tsuchiya squad for the past two seasons, was absent from Toyota’s release along with Yuga Furutani, who has been replaced by Yasuda at Anest Iwata.